I don't know the chemistry involved but all batteries have chemical reactions taking place regardless of the state of charge. You may be aware of car batteries 'sulphating' if left in a discharged state for long periods.

It is a characteristic of lipos for the latent reaction when no current is flowing to be worse when fully charged than when discharged. Unfortunately for us, if lipos are left discharged for too long they will not recover their ability to accept charge. This is also true if they are allowed to fall below a critical voltage.

We can't leave our lipos charged because they will destroy themelves over time, and we can't leave them discharged because they may then not accept a charge later, so we have to make a compromise and store them at 3.8V per cell.

Lost several batteries due to storing them charged. I picked up the same tip from this guy http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZJHlJYDJohc about storing them between 3.7 and 3.85. He's a pretty knowledgeable and helpful guy. I've learned a bunch from him. Anyways, I haven't lost anymore since following this advice.

I just got my first funfighter (P40) yesterday. I'm hoping the slightly larger size and colors will make it easier to track? I'm about 160 pages into this thread but I'm not sure I've got the patience to read it all! Going to start with 3s 1300's on stock set up then move to 4s 1000's with a plush 40 esc once I'm comfortable with it. I've been having a blast flying my HK Skyfun jet which averages 105-110 mph, but these just look like a ton of fun. I've been bitten by the speed bug and am quickly becoming addicted! I'm already looking ahead to something much bigger AND fast... Sundowner 50? Sundowner 36? Shoestring? Not really interested in competition, just the knee knocking rush that flying fast gives us. Oh, the possibilities.... Looking forward to the maiden of the P40 sometime this week!
Norm

Anyone know where I can get a new wildcat cowl? Or if someone has a used one I'll buy it. Flying yesterday towards sun down and flew into the sun and got completely blinded. Lost orientation and pile drove the ground. Thankfully it was pretty repairable, but I poured hot water on the foam to straighten back out and as I did my glasses got fogged up from the steam and when I finally stopped and could see I realized I got water all over the cowl and it got completely deformed.

Got the 3700kv helicopter motor modded and installed on a GLM wount with stiffener. Went to a 70amp Turnigy Trust ESC. Peek power on a 1300 4 cell nanotech is 1086 watts. This is on a 5x5 prop. Holy cow this thing is scary, I cant wait to fly it. I hope my wing repair can take the stress, if not the crash should be fairly entertaining.

Is the F4F fast like the Rare Bear? All of us at my club are flying different Funfighters with 4s stock motors and the Rare Bear is the fastest by far, but no one has a F4F and it's one of my WWII favorites, it looks fast in the videos...

I just bought the T 28 from HK. Anything I should be aware of with this plane? CoG?

The T28 really isn't very fussy about CoG. I don't even bother checking it now. I put the battery in the middle of the wing, Rx next to elevator servo and ESC at the front. I fly 3S 850mAh. Underhand launch at about 45 to 60 degrees with 3/4 throttle works every time once you get it trimmed in. Really easy to trim - throttle off and it glides beautifully giving you plenty of time to mess around.....you won't dare to take your thumbs off the sticks with power on! 5 mins flight with a bit of throttle management. Good luck

Cool, could you post a link to this one. I can't seem to find it. Are you talking about the Seafury?
I currently have the T-28 and Wildcat. I was thinking about the P-47 for my next one, but I'm not sure yet.

Corsair is on sale right now, so I picked one up. I wasn't planning on ever getting this one due to the lack of any support in the wing, but at $50 its hard to pass up. I'll run some good fiber tape along both sides of the wing for extra support. I do this with all my planes anyway. I think Ill just keep this one stock on 3S. Only a few more and Ill have the whole fleet of Funfighters!